1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of teleprompters. More specifically, the present invention relates to a teleprompter having a directional screen which may be viewed from a limited range of angles, such that when one individual views the teleprompter, those to the sides of the viewer cannot view the text meant for the viewer.
2. Related Art
The recent development of compact and affordable single-beam video projectors enables the implementation of a highly directional speech-prompting system with unprecedented brightness. Standard rear projection video systems often employ a fresnel lens at the screen to collimate the light before imposing a relatively high degree of diffusion. This ensures that viewers observing from a wide range of angles see a screen that is uniformly lit. In an effort to increase brightness for an audience distributed more or less in a horizontal plane in front of the screen, special prism-lens diffusers have been developed, which scatter the light side to side in a room, but avoid the wasteful scattering of light towards the ceiling or the floor.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, the invention provides a teleprompter configured to project an image to a viewer at a viewer location. The teleprompter comprises a single-beam teleprompter projector, configured to project an image to a focal plane, and a directional screen, disposed at the focal plane. The directional screen is configured to direct the image to a focal point at the viewer location, and diffuse the image within a limited viewing region surrounding the focal point, such that the apparent brightness of the image to the viewer at the viewer location is increased, and the visibility of the image to persons other than the viewer is reduced.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description which follows, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which together illustrate, by way of example, features of the invention.